


petals for you

by pretzelmintz



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: ADHD Character, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Hope's Peak Academy (Dangan Ronpa), Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Crushes, F/F, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious, Pining, and kaede akamatsu is very painfully oblivious, get ready foooor, kirumi tojo cannot flirt to save her life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24789322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pretzelmintz/pseuds/pretzelmintz
Summary: “C-could you hold on to this for me?”Kaede blinked at her in total silence. She kept moving her eyes back and forth, from the flower to Kirumi’s wavering expression while her brain loaded a response.Why was she so nervous…?//KIrumi has a 'favour' to ask of Kaede.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Tojo Kirumi, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 90





	petals for you

**Author's Note:**

> HI IM BACK!! and im a high school graduate now!!  
> this was supposed to be a chapter of Cherry Sweet but YET AGAIn it surpassed 1000 words sooooo whoops
> 
> ive got so many fics planned for the summer guys ahhghghg  
> and THBOK /should/ update tomorrow!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy! <3

With her binder stuffed with meticulously picked and sorted music sheets tucked under her arm and a medicine induced focus drive, Kaede walked out of her room and down the Dorm staircase.

It being around 9am on a Sunday, she wasn’t surprised to see a mostly empty living space as she walked into the living room. Most of her classmates were probably still asleep, or elsewhere on campus.

What she _was_ more surprised to see, however, was the uniformed Ultimate Maid seated at the dining table, twirling something absentmindedly between her fingers, brow furrowed and eyes unfocused. She didn’t even stir as the pianist approached her.

“Good morning, Tojo!”

That got her attention. All of a sudden, Kirumi was fully alert, and standing to meet her. The item she was holding before vanished from Kaede’s attention, and in a moment, she forget she’d even seen it.

“Good morning, Akamatsu.” the maid replied in her usual polite tone. “Are you headed somewhere…?”

Kirumi slightly cocked her head at the question, and Kaede smiled even wider.

_She’s so cute…_

“Yep! Today’s a particularly inspired day,” she tapped the folds of the binder with her other fingers, “so I’m going to be in my lab for the duration of it.”

Kirumi nodded. “I see…”

The maid averted her gaze as she trailed off, which made Kaede’s attention shift. Once the haze of seeing Kirumi Tojo first thing in the morning had cleared from her eyes, she started to notice the smaller details. Kirumi seemed… nervous. Her usually calm features were slightly scrunched, and there was a distinct flush on her pale face.

“Hm? You look like you’ve got something on your mind.” Kaede pointed out, not entirely with her own permission. Sometimes, the brain just wanted to say things without thinking it over first.

“Ah!” the maid startled, and flushed even deeper. “Well, yes, actually…”

Kaede then noticed something else; that Kirumi’s hands were hidden behind her back. Kirumi must have noticed her observation, because she lowered her gaze to the ground.

_Is she holding something…?_

Kaede had never seen the maid act this way.

It was kind of making her want to squeal.

But if Kirumi was genuinely upset and nervous over something, well, Kaede wouldn’t let that slide.

“What- “

Before she could say anything else, Kirumi brought her hands out from behind her back, and held something out to Kaede. Momentarily stunned, it took a few seconds for the pianist to realize just what it was.

A flower.

Specifically, a beautiful pastel pink peony on a rigid stem. One of her favourites- hence why she knew the name of it. Her flower knowledge was limited, after all.

She looked to the flower, then up to Kirumi with a confused stare. At that moment, the maid seemed to realize that she needed to elaborate. So, she took a breath.

“C-could you hold on to this for me?”

Kaede blinked at her in total silence. She kept moving her eyes back and forth, from the flower to Kirumi’s wavering expression while her brain loaded a response.

_Why was she so nervous…?_

Kaede then remembered Kirumi’s refusal to let any of them help her with anything- she always insisted on doing everything by herself, that she didn’t mind, and that it was her duty.

 _Of course_ she’d be embarrassed to ask someone directly for help.

“Oh!” Kaede startled. Then she beamed warmly, carefully taking the flower by its stem. “Of course! No need to be so shy to ask for a favour.”

“Right…” the maid said still averting her gaze, moving her hands to fold over each other in their usual position. Then she straitened her posture and cleared her throat. “Thank you. I have some errands to run now, so I’ll see you this evening…?”

The pianist nodded enthusiastically. “Later!”

The maid said nothing else as she walked away, likely going somewhere else in the Dorm. Meanwhile, Kaede went towards the kitchen to find a temporary vase for the peony, twirling it with her fingers along the way.

//

True to her word, Kaede kept the flower with her all day. It sat in its temporary vase, a tacky children’s mug most likely belonging to Kokichi, atop the Ultimate Pianist’s lab piano.

Kaede’s fingers seemed to almost float above the keys as she played a rather cheerful melody, having looked away from the sheet music a while ago. This song was a favourite of hers, after all- her go to warm up when she was in a good mood.

Every so often, she would look up at the peony in its vase, and the upbeat music in the air would personify into little dancing notes on the peony’s petals, weaving and tapping joyously to the sound of the Maple Leaf Rag.

When she started Nocturne in B-Flat minor, their dancing got much slower and more graceful- almost like Kirumi herself. The embodiment of grace.

Then, without realizing it, she started playing a different song, switching flawlessly and without hesitation. Her full attention was on the flower in its vase- while her fingers played DeBussy’s Arabesque.

Another favourite of hers, but for a different reason. A slow but serene song, it filled her with calm, its soothing melody wrapping around her in a soft embrace.

It was a romantic song.

One that she often found herself playing when the Ultimate Maid was on her mind. And in that moment, she absolutely was.

The flower on her piano almost gave the illusion of Kirumi’s presence- as if her soothing aura could be felt through her possessions.

Then Kaede slightly missed a key.

What followed was a loud off-note that completely threw her off and made her fully alert. She shook herself back to attention, and sighed, never taking her eyes off the peony.

//

When Kaede returned to the dorm that evening, clutching the vase in her hands, she met Kokichi and Shuichi on the sofa of the living room. The leader’s head was resting on the detective’s lap, and they both stirred at her arrival.

“Hey Akamatsu.” Shuichi acknowledged her with a nod. He then noticed the binder tucked under her arm. “Had a good practice?”

“Yep!” she smiled.

Kokichi’s eyes fell onto the vase, and they glittered with curiosity, propping himself up and standing to inspect it closer.

“What’s that you’re holding?” he asked as he walked towards her.

Kaede looked down at the flower, as healthy and delicate as that morning. “Oh, this?”

Kokichi scoffed. “What else?”

The pianist rolled her eyes, but answered as Shuichi moved towards the two of them. “Tojo gave me this.”

The detective stopped in his tracks right next to Kokichi, eyes slightly widening. “She… what?”

“Yeah!” she beamed even wider, then looked back down at the flower. “She asked me to hold onto it for her while she ran errands. I’m just waiting for her so I can give it back.”

Both boys were completely silent. They shared a glance between them as Kaede watched, slowly growing confused at their apparent shock.

Shuichi finally spoke. “She asked you to hold onto it.”

Kaede blinked. “Yeah.”

“A flower.”

“Mhm.”

“Something she could have very easily left in the dorm since it requires zero supervision.”

Kaede narrowed her eyes. “What are you getting at…?”

Kokichi lowered his gaze and brought a hand to his face. “Oh boy.”

“What?” Kaede asked harshly. They were acting so strange!

“Akamatsu,” Shuichi began slowly and carefully, as if he were talking to a child. “I _think_ she was trying to flirt with you.”

The pianist could only stare. It shifted between the two boys- Kokichi had looked back at her as if in confirmation of what his boyfriend just said.

She blinked again.

“What.”

“Oh, come on!” Kokichi suddenly yelled out, throwing his arms up in exasperation, causing both the detective and the pianist to flinch. “Why the hell would anyone ask someone else to ‘hold on to’ a lone flower for them?! She wanted to _give it_ to you! But she’s got the emotional vulnerability of a singular peanut!”

Shuichi winced but nodded, and the two boys looked at her expectantly, as if analyzing her next move.

Kaede was practically frozen in place, her brain ground to a halt. The vase was suddenly excruciatingly heavy in her hands.

She could only come up with one response.

“ _Oh_.”

//

When Ryoma burst into the laundry room that evening with a piercing glare, Kirumi knew she was in for it.

“It is taking one million percent of my willpower not to attack you like a wild animal right now.”

**Author's Note:**

> RYOMA'S FUCKING PISSED  
> he's the kirukaede wingman for kirumi except he's stuck with a socially awkward and emotionally distant disaster. someone help him
> 
> //
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!! <3


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